Nick Blackwell pushes Billy Joe Saunders all the way in Commonwealth title bout

Nick Blackwell pushed former Olympian Billy Joe Saunders all the way as he missed out on both the Commonwealth middleweight title and the vacant British belt at the ExCel Arena on Saturday night.

The 22-year-old from Trowbridge was out-pointed in the capital as Saunders took the judges’ verdict 117-112 116-113 and 115-114.

It was the second time Blackwell had failed to land the British belt, having suffered his only previous defeat in his 14 outings at the hands of current WBC title contender Martin Murray in June last year.

Blackwell, who works on his strength and conditioning at Bath’s Body Development Gym, insisted pre-fight that he was not just making up the numbers against Saunders and began impressively before tiring in the second half.